The Stream

by Mark White

  'The more preferable option is to remove Raj Tamboli from the Stream itself. At present it is unclear how this can be achieved. It will be hard to do so unless he voluntarily agrees to leave. It is hard to understand why he would do this. This option would be preferable as it would still leave the Confluvium with access to the Stream, but without the direct control over your free will. We would then be able to liaise directly with the rest of humanity in order to achieve our goals. It may take longer to remove your use of the bulk drive, but would be more beneficial to your race,' she said.

  'It sounds as if you're quite a way off a solution then?' I said.

  'Unfortunately, yes. However with the knowledge of the identity of the entity in the Stream, we can make more informed steps in the right direction. Thank you for your insight Kofi. I believe we will make a good team,' she said.

  I was unexpectedly taken aback at the compliment. 'Thank you, I agree, I believe if we work together, we can solve this problem. Our races should be able to cooperate fully once Raj is out of the way,' I said.

  'Yes. One important matter though. We will attempt to provide you solutions to this problem. The choice of which route to go, if any, must be humanity's. We will not impose a specific solution upon you, that must be your choice to make. But you must make a choice. Depending on the outcome, we may have to take further actions of our own to protect ourselves. But we wish to give you the option of solving this in a way of your choosing first. If not, do not doubt that we will...'

  With that, her image froze again, and she was gone. I think I got the message. We'll help you, but you have to sort out your own mess. If you don't do it properly, we'll tidy up, and you may not like the result.

  Pool: Kofi Albus - 18th Sextilis 227PD

  I spent the early part of the day working at home. I had access to all the public records there to give me the context that I needed on the post-Flood history, ready for a deeper dive into the restricted records once I got in the office. I'm still not seeing anything that doesn't fit into the 'it's Raj dammit' theory. Early days yet, but I'd like to get the report wrapped up by the end of the day if I can. Things are so critical right now, I need to keep the momentum going before it's too late. The more I can avoid Damon, the better, but unfortunately I think it's time to head in the office. I'll take the shuttle today for speed.

  Annoyingly I just realised I still haven't had the full project proposal from Mauro. I know it's a formality, but he's not going to get any payment out of accounts unless they have it. I'll send him a quick reminder.

  Well Geraldine was certainly true to her word. There was chaos in the office. Workmen were milling around everywhere on my floor, panels were off the walls, and people were watching what was going on with interest. It looked like some kind of sensor was being fitted to the inside of each wall panel, connected to a cable running along the inside, with additional boxes fitted periodically along each wall. I tried not to show too much interest. I felt under my desk, and was encouraged to find a small pressure pad recessed under the lip of the desk. That was quick, and very reassuring to know it was there. I wonder what it does? Knowing Geraldine's sense of humour I'll probably get a message saying 'Please do not press this button again.' She's always loved referencing her favourite lines whenever she can. I'd better not press it to test it though.

  'Hello Kofi,' said a voice from behind me. Fuck, he did it yet again. 'Any idea what's going on?'

  'Good morning Damon,' I replied calmly, 'No, I've no idea. I've only just got in the office. You've not heard anything?'

  'Only rumour I've heard is that there was a problem with the fire alarm system, so they're taking the opportunity to upgrade it. All seems a bit sudden though. I've sent Geraldine a request for information, but not heard anything yet,' he said.

  'Ah the busy life of a Decemvir, I'm sure she'll get around to it,' I replied.

  'I guess so. What are you up to today? Geraldine given you any more odd tasks?' he asked.

  'No, not really. I'm just finishing up some odds and ends arising from my last report, as we discussed. To be honest, I think this phase of work is coming to an end,' I replied.

  That's odd. My message to Mauro has just come back as undeliverable. I can't worry about that now, I'll just resend. I need to focus on this conversation, this could get dangerous. I don't want to have to use my emergency button before it's finished being fitted yet.

  'I'm very serious about what I said last time. I'm going to be candid now, and this is just between the two of us. Please never repeat this to anyone,' Damon said, looking unexpectedly earnest.

  'Of course Damon, you know you can trust me,' I replied, hoping I was much better at lying these days.

  FEOS: 'We Lictors are more than just liaison officers between the Decemviri,' he said. 'We are the checks and balances that keep the system working. The Decemvir are above us all in terms of authority, but they are not above scrutiny. It is our role to look out for strange or anomalous behaviour. The last time we had concerns was over the behaviour of Marcus Nguyen, but that situation was resolved when he sadly died. I hope my concerns over Geraldine are misplaced.'

  'If your job is to monitor the Decemviri, who is it that you report to?' I asked, feeling unexpectedly brave.

  He looked taken aback. 'I have already said too much. I hope my trust in you was not misplaced,' he said.

  Right, time to unveil my cover story I came up with last night.

  'Sorry, I do appreciate you telling me that. I asked Geraldine yesterday for permission to tell you what we were really looking into, if I thought it was appropriate. She said it was OK, and with you having trusted me, I feel it is only right to tell you the truth.'

  'Thank you Kofi, so what is your real project?' he asked.

  'After her meeting with the Safirans, and finding out their true incorporeal nature, she had concerns that might have infiltrated the Stream itself, and could be actively working against us. If they could enter the Stream, there might be no end to the things they could do. We didn't know how long they could have been monitoring us, so we went right back to before the Flood itself, and stepped forward, looking at things that could point to their influence. For example the pattern of HOME deaths seemed anomalous, so I looked into that,' I said, trying to sound as genuine and open as I could.

  'Ah, that makes sense, thank you, that seems very pellucid. So have you found anything of interest?' He asked, looking a bit more relaxed.

  'To be honest, no. There were a few things that sparked our interest, but when we looked into the details, there seemed other much more likely reasons. Occam's Razor and all that. I think in general, that's probably good news, even if I have wasted my time. No obvious sign of Safiran influence,' I said.

  'That's good. That is encouraging. I didn't want to suspect Geraldine, but I wouldn't have been doing my job if I hadn't investigated my concerns. You have put my mind at ease. Please keep an open mind though and look out for further odd behaviour. The more friends and helpers I have, the better job I can do. I'm sure you've seen in your research what a terrible state the world was in before Raj rescued us all. I will not let us slide back into those ways,' Damon said, heatedly.

  'Yes I agree wholeheartedly,' I said. 'Don't worry, I'll let you know if I suspect anything. So far though, Geraldine has always been honest with me and has supported my work openly.'

  'Thank you. So what loose ends are you still looking into?' he asked. I was hoping he wouldn't. I'll base something on the truth in case he sees what I'm looking at today.

  'It's partly a follow up on the years after the Flood to make sure I've not left any major gaps, and partly for my own interest. I've been watching the VR drama The Confluvium recently, which I've found fascinating. There's lots I didn't know about our first contact with the various races. I'm nearly up to the episode covering Geraldine's meeting with the Safirans, I'm really looking forward to seeing how she's portrayed. Have you seen it?' I asked.

  'Yes I have, it is reasonably interes
ting and accurate. So what's the actual topic of your follow up?' he asked, clearly not falling for my attempt to change the subject.

  'Well I realised I had one gap in my knowledge of how we get to the start of the VR series. None of it could have happened without the invention of the bulk drive. That seemed to come out of nowhere - we quickly went from limited excursions around the solar system to being an interstellar species. So I just want to familiarise myself with what happened. I'm fairly sure there's nothing related to the Safirans there, so it's mainly to satisfy my curiosity. The more I know about events of that period, the better I can support Geraldine,' I said, hoping he'd buy it.

  'Oh, I can tell you some things about that,' he replied.

  Didn't I just know he was going to say that? I guess it won't do any harm to let him rant on and try to impress me for a bit. That's odd, my message to Mauro has bounced back again. Must be some routing issue, which is pretty rare. I'll try to go via the DJ Institute itself. I'll send it while he's talking.

  'This is another area that was helped by Raj's genius. I can't overstate how astute and foresighted the man was. There were some areas of cosmological research that had fallen out of favour as experimental data ruled out many bounds within which they could operate. Raj always had found them fascinating though. These included the fields of Loop Quantum Gravity and Brane Cosmology. However later advances in topological research by Professor Steinberg opened up new possibilities for these fields. Raj spotted this opportunity and poured a lot of support into these fields via Tethys research projects.'

  I largely know all this, although I didn't know that Steinberg's work had triggered it. Sounds to me like he's quoting another of his reports to me.

  'Even before the Flood, breakthroughs had been made in sharpening and validating the theoretical advancements. The bulk is a higher dimensional space within which multiple, perhaps infinite, universes reside. These universes are contained within branes, with our universe being constrained in a three dimensional brane. Forces such as gravity and exotic energy can leak through from our universe into the bulk itself, and vice versa. From our perspective, the bulk is the substrate upon which our universe exists. It permeates everything, and exists everywhere. With me so far?' he asked.

  'Yes, I think so,' I answered, slightly doubtfully. 'So does the bulk drive just punch a hole into the bulk itself, and take a shortcut?' I asked.

  'Yes, and no. That's where the high dimensional geometric topology comes in. You can't just put a hole into the bulk, it's not somewhere you can just fly. We have to break the homotopic equivalence of the surface of our brane using exotic matter. Effectively we rip it apart and fold a tunnel of three dimensional space through the bulk from one point in our universe's brane to another.'

  He looked smug at his technobabble.

  'And then we just fly through the tunnel?' I asked, innocently.

  'Well yes. However forming the tunnel is hard. Doing the maths is hard. Controlling the exotic matter to hold the entrance and exit stable is hard. We've dedicated processing in the Stream itself to handle it. We could never have done it without the huge expansion of the Stream that happened in the years after Flood Day. It's one of humanity's grand achievements,' he said.

  'So what happens to the tunnel once we've used it?' I asked.

  'As soon as we stop controlling the exotic matter using the force of the ship itself, it collapses. There is some residual disruption on the surface of the Brane, but that soon fades away,' he said.

  Fades away? Repaired by Safiran Redoubts more likely, I thought angrily. OK, let's try to annoy him.

  'So why can't we just send signals through the bulk in the same way? Surely that would be a better way of synchronising the Sources on the worlds of the Confluvium, rather than having to send drone ships all the time?' I asked.

  It worked, he looked annoyed.

  'Yes, that's one thing we don't understand yet. The theory shows that we should be able to send data much more easily than ships, but we can't. It should take much less energy and be less complicated to do it, but without the mass of the ship to rip through to create the tunnel, it just doesn't work. There's something blocking the signal that isn't allowed for in our models so far. So you can consider it a work in progress still,' he replied.

  'One day then, by the sound of it?' I asked, knowing full we'll that it's the Redoubts that block it.

  'Yes I hope so,' he said.

  I just saw a reply come in from the Institute. Let's get rid of him if I can, so I can sort out Mauro.

  'Many thanks as ever Damon, that's really useful. If it's OK by you, I need to get on now. I'll write up what you just said, and then wrap things up. Looks like this part of the project is nearly done. Thanks again for your help, it's been invaluable,' I said, creeping as much as I could to pander his ego.

  'No problem Kofi, glad to help. Glad things sound OK with Geraldine too. Enjoy the rest of the day if you can with all this work going on,' he said.

  'I'll try, have a good day too,' I said, sighing as he left.

  Now he's gone, I can get in contact with Mauro in peace. Hopefully the DJ Institute's message will let me know why I can't contact him directly.

  'I am sorry to inform you that Doctor Mauro Sosa passed away suddenly in his office on 16th Sextilis. For further details, please contact Professor David Cox, head of the DJ Institute.'

  Fuck. This can't be a coincidence. We put him on a sensitive project related to our investigation, and he dies immediately. Is it a HOME death? What could have caused it so quickly? We need to find out immediately. If he can be killed, so can we. It feels like I just allayed Damon's fears, but who can tell? He might be a better actor than me. I need to let Geraldine know straight away. I'll send her an encrypted message.

  FEOS: 'Mauro Sosa dead. It could be a HOME death. Need to know what he was doing before he died. Can we get access to his last pool on 16th Sextilis? Need to know if he was killed deliberately, and what he had done so far. Believe I have placated Damon for now, but unnerved by Mauro.'

  I'm at a loss what to do or say. If he was killed because of me, because of what I let him do for us, it's hard to take. I thought it was minor enough or safe for him. We used him for information and to distract attention from what we were doing. Or so I thought. Clearly it must have been too concerning for someone, or is it a threat to us to make us back off? The only person who really knew of Mauro, other than our accounts department, was Damon. I felt sure he was happy with it, and he seemed relaxed with me today. So why the death? Ah, a reply from Geraldine.

  'Fuck. I've requested the pool, top priority to be sent directly to you. Please analyse and report immediately.'

  Glad we had the same response. Nothing to do now but wait for it.

  Sat here waiting for the pool, trying to do work, but can't stop thinking about Mauro. I liked him. He blew hot and cold, but was so enthusiastic about his work, it was infectious. I felt we could have built a good, cooperative, working relationship. And now he's gone. And it's my fault.

  That was quicker than I expected, here's Mauro's final pool waiting already. Let's see what happened, then I'll need to get a report to Geraldine. And finish my next report of post-Flood history. And see if I can chat to Safira. Life suddenly seems very complicated. But first Mauro; this is going to be emotional, reading the last moments of someone I'm sure was going to be a good friend.

  Pool: Mauro Sosa - 16th Sextilis 227PD

  That was a relief, getting the authorisation through to go ahead with my research project. After years of trying to get funding to do something really interesting, I get it easily when that idiot Kofi turned up out of the blue. At first I thought he was just a bureaucratic twat out to do a spot audit, but it turns out he was just a twat. Project Impala? What a stupid code name.

  Luckily he was a twat I could use to my own ends, so I managed to feign helpfulness to make me indispensable to him. It all turned out well in the end, and I will give him a little credit that he asked a co
uple of astute questions.

  It didn't stop me wrapping him round my finger and getting him to go along with what I wanted of course. But then there was all the chaos within the Decemvirate's office, approving, blocking and then approving my research. Seem like a complete bunch of twats there too, so Kofi must fit right in. Gave me some good kudos in the institute though, getting personal approval through from Geraldine Mander in the end. I should be able to get a few drinks on that story, discussing me and my mate Gerry.

  Definitely time to head into the institute early today so I can crack on with the research quickly. I have a couple of ideas to get started, after a lot of thinking yesterday evening. I believe I have all the information to hand that will confirm one item of immediate interest, how the breakdown of the Tap propagates. I'm assuming that there's some external trigger that causes the body's immune system to attack the Tap as a foreign agent. It's as good a starting theory as any, so let's get some evidence to back it up. Luckily - although not for her - there was a HOME death case bought in yesterday for cataloguing. I can scan her brain to trace the timing of the decay of the Tap tissue; hopefully the place where it starts will give my some clue as to what mechanism might be causing the decay. Getting the Decemvir's approval helps there too, I can just show it to override any other calls on the body. Sad for her family, but my work must take priority.

  I had to throw my weight around a bit to get access to the body quickly. The earlier I get access to it, the more detailed the scan data will be. I love my Decemvir approval message, I just metaphorically wave it in the face of any jobsworth I come across, and I get my way. I can put up with the grumbling, I'm doing something interesting at last.